Barcelona beat Real Sociedad 2-1 in the Nou Camp on Saturday to keep alive its Spanish League title hopes and remain seven points behind leader Madrid, which earlier had beaten Getafe 1-0 thanks to a Sergio Ramos goal.
Cristian Tello opened the scoring in his first full game for Barcelona.
Lionel Messi extended Barcelona's lead on 72 minutes a minute before Carlos Vela pulled one back for Sociedad.
The game kicked off in freezing temperatures and burst into life on four minutes when first Messi was denied by Sociedad keeper Claudio Bravo, before Victor Valdes blocked from Diego Ifran at the other end.
Four minutes later and Barcelona was ahead when Tello beat Bravo to convert a slide rule pass from Messi.
Messi was the provider again on 26 minutes when it was Fabregas who shot just high and Sociedad was struggling to make any headway against the quick passing Barca.
Next it was Jonathan Dos Santos, starting his first league game of the season, who tried from long range and forced Bravo into a save.
On the stroke of half-time Dani Alves shot wide from close range and Messi had a shot blocked by Bravo seven minutes into the second-half.
Messi again was close to adding the second on 63 minutes when he rounded Bravo only for centre-half Inigo Martinez to block his goal bound effort, but he was to finally hit the target on 72 minutes.
The little Argentinian was quick to latch onto Dani Alves' chipped pass and beat Bravo with a flick of the left foot to make sure he did not complete four consecutive games without a goal.
Vela quickly grabbed one back for the visitor, finishing an Antoine Griezmann pass, and the lead was back to the single goal it had been for nearly all the game.
Earlier, Real Madrid overcame windy conditions to win 1-0 at Getafe when Ramos outjumped Getafe defender Juan Valera to head home a Mesut Ozil corner for the only goal of the game on 18 minutes.
The results:
Athletic Bilbao 3 (de Marcos 25, Llorente 57, Javi Martinez 64) drew with Espanyol 3 (Romaric 33, Weiss 48, Albin 90+2); Real Mallorca 1 (Castro 24) bt Real Betis 0; Levante 1 (Kone 23) drew with Racing Santander 1 (Arana 61); Getafe 0 lost to Real Madrid 1 (Sergio Ramos 18); Barcelona 2 (Tello 9, Messi 72) bt Real Sociedad 1 (Vela 74).
